Chris Pureka has spent the past decade touring with her unadorned, country-inflected folk music at cozy clubs, grand theaters, grassroots festivals and urban block parties. On Saturday, Dec. 13, she hits the stage at Jammin’ Java playing songs from her critically acclaimed recording, “Chimera II” and other music from her career.
I recently had the chance to catch Pureka in between concert dates to answer a few questions about her music and career.
1: What can fans coming to the show expect to hear and see?
Pureka: I’m hoping to record a new album over the winter. So I have a bunch of brand new songs. On this tour I’m playing a mix of those new songs and also songs from all of my older records. This tour also features my bandmate, Ryan Traster, who sings harmonies and plays bass.
2: Describe the feeling you get performing live.
Pureka: When the audience is attentive and the sound is good, the feeling is of becoming something bigger than yourself and being in flow. It can be a great feeling.
3: What is your best memory from your music career to date?
Pureka: The How I Learned to See in the Dark CD release tour in 2010 is my favorite collection of memories. It was a three-month tour with a five-piece band of amazingly talented and super fun people. We had Lyndell Montgomery on bass and fiddle, Liz Kelly on drums, Julia Read on violin and Andrea Alseri on electric guitar. It was probably the most fun I’ve ever had in my life and totally warranted the tour tattoos we got in Kansas.
4: What do you consider to be your signature song and why?
Pureka: I think that things like that change as you grow as an artist. I imagine a signature song is just the song the most people are drawn to or request. Right now that song is probably my song, “Wrecking Ball,” which is the title track and the single from my last full length record. (No relation to the Miley Cyrus, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Ryan Adams, or Bruce Springsteen versions. Although, it would be super fun to make a Wrecking Ball covers record of all those tunes.)
5: With the holidays approaching, what is a New Year’s Resolution you plan to make concerning your career?
Pureka: Keep on keepin’ on!
